Bloomberg Philanthropies’ What Works Cities initiative is designed to help cities across the United States use data and evidence to effectively tackle their most pressing challenges. Through this initiative, BIT has worked with cities across the U.S. to build their capacity for rigorous evaluation and the application of behavioral science.
We’ve built behavioral insights and evaluation capacity in over 35 cities so far, working with city employees to design and test ideas inspired by behavioral science. That has led to the launch of over 95 trials in those cities, addressing challenges ranging from police recruitment diversity to uptake of health programs.
Looking forward, the What Works Cities initiative is continuing to evolve. Over the coming years we’ll be helping cities apply behavioral insights to even more complex challenges like increasing economic mobility, and we’ll be developing tools and resources to sustainably embed evaluation capabilities within local government.
